★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

This has been out long enough that what I have to say is full of spoilers, continue at your own risk.


   I'll start trying to get this going by talking about The Dark Knight Rises.   Christopher Nolan's final film in his Dark Knight Trilogy.

  During my initial viewing of this film, I seemed to like it.  But as I got home and started to think about it, I started to pick it a part in my head.  From day time chase scenes that change to the middle of the night between edits, to Alfred just up and leaving Bruce, which is something that goes against everything Alfred swore to do, things just felt sloppy and out of place.   Bane once again turns out to be a lacky instead of the true villain that he's supposed to be.    The handling of the breaking of Batman's back, an iconic comic scene is almost laughable, and there just wasn't enough Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.  Also, one thing I can not stand is a movie bringing ideas to the table, and not sticking to its convictions.   If you are going to kill a character, stick with it.  I read a line in another review that sticks with me right now.  This movie had more false endings than Return of the King.  I felt like the movie was trying to insult my intelligence by trying to make me believe that Bane was the son of Ra's Al Ghul,   The last act of the film made no sense to me.  You have two large groups of people, one side extremely heavily armed, the other side, not so much.   What happens?  The heavily armed side just decides not to fire their weapons.  Some motivations in this movie made no sense, not to mention nobody is happy at any point during this film.




   I will admit, that just minutes before I went to see this moving, there was a life event that really put me in a bad mood, and maybe that is part of my problem with this movie, but I have gone back to see it again, and I just don't like it.


   It really isn't a terrible movie, but the standards set by the first two just really set this film up to fail.    Bruce going from having a cane, hardly able to walk, to slapping on a brace and being Batman, then going from broken back, to climbing out of an impossible hole, to Batman in a few months again. I can't really complain too much about the well scene, because there was at least a period of time that was shown passing.

  And lately, EVERY movie in this genera seems to revolve around a nuclear weapon.  Every character seems to have a drab monologue filled with flashbacks, it just doesn't ever seem to focus.  I think Nolan was ready to be done with this universe.


   I really can't complain about the performances.  Christian Bale did a nice job, and I don't mind seeing an 'older' Batman, but it just didn't quite play out right for me.   Tom Hardy did all he could do behind a mask, although I still think of him as a Picard clone in Star Trek Nemesis.   Anne Hathaway actually surprised me with her turn as Selena Kyle, she in no way just mailed this in, and was a nice breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale picture.   Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine were fantastic in their minor roles, I just wish there was more.

   The second act of this film is a complete and total snoozefest.  Bane is coming.  Nobody should be prepared for it because it has been 8 years since Gotham had seen any real crime.  The football stadium stuff had been shown so much on commercials and trailers that I figured that would be just the start of city wide destruction.  Well, I was wrong.  The biggest thing done by the villain was show to me 100s of times before I even got to the movie.   Then its revealed that Bane was just a lacky.  Revealing Talia Al Ghul just to kill her minutes later didn't sit with me well either.

   The best thing about this movie is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  He has a great story arc, and steps up and gives the most crisp performance in the film.   The only thing I didn't like, had nothing to do with him, but the writing for the character.  You spend the entire film having him set up as a replacement for Bruce to take over Batman, and at the end they reveal his real name to be "Robin."  I know a few people liked this as a reveal but my eyes rolled so hard I got a headache.

  I've just got to the point where I am rambling.  This isn't nearly as bad as the Schumacher years of Batman, but its not on part with the first two movies of the series.   I give it a 6/10 stars.

        

Labels: 2012, New Release